Photo by Lydia Freudenberg
Records Per Minute
Old North
For more than 40 years, Steve Louis has been buying and listening to records.
He doesn’t consider himself a collector, just someone who loves music. But, by default, he acquired a collection.
“I never listen to music through my telephone or computer, because it’s so thin and there is so much missing,” Louis says.
So when he listens to music, it’s on vinyl records, a format he finds far superior.
Even in an age of digital formats, Louis says, he doesn’t classify records as nostalgic, since they have been around for years. It’s just that their popularity has fluctuated. Finding the newest pop album or a classic rock album is always possible, including at Louis’s shop, Records Per Minute (RPM).
“(Records) have always been around. They have never gone away,” he says. “In the past 10 to 15 years, they’ve definitely picked up, but it’s not (by) leaps and bounds.”
RPM has approximately 25,000 records from many different genres in its collection. Louis’ favorites? They’ve expanded as he’s consumed more music, but he mostly enjoys rock, jazz, reggae, blues and country.
Louis can’t pinpoint his favorite record, comparing it to the age-old “picking a favorite child” scenario. His favorite part about owning RPM is selling something he’s passionate about and interacting with music lovers.
“I like to talk music with people all the time. It’s interesting to see what people like and what works for them,” he says. “Music is a special thing, and there are so many different styles and types and different forms of expression in the music that it’s just endless.”
Photo by Lydia Freudenberg
Spoonful Records
Downtown Columbus
After working as a graphic designer and starting a record label, Brett Ruland decided he wanted a career entirely focused on music. His wife, Amy Kesting, suggested a record shop.
Named after his record label, Spoonful Records opened in 2010, featuring used records, many from Ruland’s personal collection. Today, the shop has more than 8,000 used and new records in classic rock, hip-hop, soundtracks and more.
Ruland says vinyl has outlasted other music formats, but its current popularity is nothing compared to the 1970s and 80s. Still, the couple notices increasing shop sales and how many teenagers find vinyl intriguing.
“Teenage kids and their parents are coming in together and having conversations about the music,” says Kesting. “For the 14- and 15-year-olds that are getting into vinyl now, a lot of them have never owned physical media.”
“Because there is so much online, I think people want to have a real experience and see what else is out there,” adds Ruland.
As Kesting places a $5 1950s Al Hirt jazz record onto the shop’s turntable, the sound is crisp. She notes that vinyl allows people to listen to music that may not be digitally downloadable.
“(Experts) estimate that something like 20 percent of the music from the ’60s and ’70s is available digitally,” she says. “There are so many records that have come out. If you want it, you got to get it on vinyl.”
Along with vinyl’s fuller sound, Ruland says records also have a nostalgic feel, which is often preferable with modern audiences.
“I think the hardest thing with the world we live in today is finding time to listen to the record,” says Ruland. “I love nostalgia. I mean, just look around (the shop). There are pinball machines and we’re playing old-timey music, but for me, I guess it’s comforting, that memory of a time gone by that you’re keeping alive.”
Photo by Lydia Freudenberg
Elizabeth’s Records
Clintonville
Since the late 1960s, David Lewis has collected vinyl records. But when the 2008 recession hit, and times got tough, he decided to sort through his collection and open a record shop.
Business has fluctuated in the years since for the shop, named after Lewis’s daughter, opened, but he hopes future generations will keep vinyl alive.
“We were wanting (the shop) to be something from our past, me and my wife, that survived and went on to Elizabeth’s generation,” he says. “We worry about what’s going to happen to (records). … Is it something that’s just going to be a fad, or is it something that young people are going to completely embrace and carry on?”
The store sells mostly vintage or used LPs and 45s, along with refurbished turntables. Lewis says he knows he won’t get rich selling records, but he loves doing something he’s passionate about and meeting new people.
“I still discover music I didn’t know about,” he says. “Also, if you look at my Facebook friends, about 80 percent of them are people I’ve met in this store. So it’s brought me into the community and the community into here.”
Lewis says maybe he’ll pass the shop down to Elizabeth one day, but for now, he’s selling records in her place.
“It’s always been her shop, run by me.”
Lydia Freudenberg is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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